A day before the three-day long unilateral ceasefire announced by the Muzaffarabad based United Jihad Council came into effect in Jammu and Kashmir, militants attacked an army patrol party killing two troopers, including a junior commissioned officer.

Police said a patrol party of the 32 Rashtriya Rifles was attacked by militants with automatic weapons at village Gund Karim Khan, 63 km from Srinagar in north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Thursday morning.

"A JCO and a soldier were killed

on the spot," said a senior police officer.

He said additional reinforcements were rushed to the area for searches. However, nobody was detained.

The three-day-long ceasefire announced by the militants on Eid festival comes into effect from Friday.

In a statement the UJC said, 'All outfits have been instructed to observe complete ceasefire on October 12, 13 and 14 in view of Eid-ul-Fitr.'

However, a senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer said that operations against militants will continue.